2008 Grand Slam of Darts

The 2008 PartyPoker.com Grand Slam of Darts was the second staging of the darts tournament, the Grand Slam of Darts organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. The event took place from 15 to 23 November 2008 at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England. As with 2007, the tournament included players from both the PDC and BDO organisations.

2008 PartyPoker.com Grand Slam of Darts
Tournament information
Dates15–23 November 2008
VenueWolverhampton Civic Hall
LocationWolverhampton
Country England
Organisation(s)PDC
FormatLegs
Prize fund£356,000
Winner's share£100,000
Nine-dart finishEngland James Wade
High checkout170 Scotland Gary Anderson
Champion(s)
England Phil Taylor
«2007 2009»

Phil Taylor successfully defended the title after defeating Terry Jenkins 18–9 in the final.

James Wade also hit the first nine-dart finish in the history of this tournament, during his second round defeat by Gary Anderson.

Prize Fund edit

The prize fund for the 2008 tournament was as follows:

Position (num. of players) Prize money
(Total: £356,000)
Winner (1) £100,000
Runner-up (1) £40,000
Semi-finalists (2) £20,000
Quarter-finalists (4) £12,500
Last 16 (second round) (8) £7,500
Last 32 (group stage) (16) £4,000
Highest finish (1) £2,000

Qualifying edit

There were 15 tournaments that provided qualifying opportunities to players. Most tournaments offered a qualifying position for the winner and runner-up of the tournament, however the World Championships and the 2007 Grand Slam also offered a place in the tournament to the losing semi-finalists. There were also various other ways of qualifying for overseas players, including those from Australia and the United States, as well as a wildcard qualifying event open to any darts player.

Qualifying tournaments edit

PDC edit

Tournament Year Position Player Qualifiers
Grand Slam of Darts 2007 Winner   Phil Taylor   Phil Taylor
  Andy Hamilton
  Kevin McDine
  Gary Anderson
  Raymond van Barneveld
  Andy Jenkins
  John Part
  Kirk Shepherd
  Kevin Painter
  Wayne Mardle
  James Wade
  Terry Jenkins
  Vincent van der Voort
  Gary Mawson
  Colin Lloyd
  Denis Ovens
  Adrian Lewis
Runner-up   Andy Hamilton
Semi-finalists   Kevin McDine
  Gary Anderson
PDC World Darts Championship 2007 Winner   Raymond van Barneveld
Runner-up   Phil Taylor
Semi-finalists   Andy Jenkins
  Andy Hamilton
2008 Winner   John Part
Runner-up   Kirk Shepherd
Semi-finalists   Kevin Painter
  Wayne Mardle
World Matchplay 2007 Winner   James Wade
Runner-up   Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner   Phil Taylor
Runner-up   James Wade
World Grand Prix 2007 Winner   James Wade
Runner-up   Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner   Phil Taylor
Runner-up   Raymond van Barneveld
Las Vegas Desert Classic 2007 Winner   Raymond van Barneveld
Runner-up   Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner   Phil Taylor
Runner-up   James Wade
UK Open 2007 Winner   Raymond van Barneveld
Runner-up   Vincent van der Voort
2008 Winner   James Wade
Runner-up   Gary Mawson
US Open 2007 Winner   Phil Taylor
Runner-up   Raymond van Barneveld
2008 Winner   Phil Taylor
Runner-up   Colin Lloyd
Premier League Darts 2007 Winner   Phil Taylor
Runner-up   Terry Jenkins
2008 Winner   Phil Taylor
Runner-up   James Wade
German Darts Championship 2007 Winner   Phil Taylor
Runner-up   Denis Ovens
European Championship 2008 Winner   Phil Taylor
Runner-up   Adrian Lewis
Championship League Darts 2008 Winner   Phil Taylor
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

BDO edit

For the second year running, Martin Adams declined his invitation to take part in the competition.

Tournament Year Position Player Qualifiers
BDO World Darts Championship 2007 Winner   Martin Adams   Phill Nixon
  Niels de Ruiter
  Mervyn King
  Mark Webster
  Simon Whitlock
  Brian Woods
  Michael van Gerwen
  Robert Thornton
  Darryl Fitton
Runner-up   Phill Nixon
Semi-finalists   Niels de Ruiter
  Mervyn King
2008 Winner   Mark Webster
Runner-up   Simon Whitlock
Semi-finalists   Martin Adams
  Brian Woods
World Masters 2006 Winner   Michael van Gerwen
Runner-up   Martin Adams
2007 Winner   Robert Thornton
Runner-up   Darryl Fitton
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

Defunct Tournaments edit

Tournament Year Position Player
International Darts League 2007 Winner   Gary Anderson
Runner-up   Mark Webster
World Darts Trophy 2007 Winner   Gary Anderson
Runner-up   Phil Taylor
Note: Players in italics had already qualified for the tournament.

Other qualifiers edit

[1]

Criteria Player
PDC North America Order of Merit Leader   Darin Young
William Cross Pro-Am   Paul Nicholson
2008 BDO Women's World Darts Champion   Anastasia Dobromyslova
ITV Wildcards   Wes Newton
  Colin McGarry
  Alan Tabern

Pro-Celebrity Challenge edit

As a curtain-raiser for the main Grand Slam of Darts, a competition involving eight celebrities and eight of the professionals taking part in the Grand Slam took place on the Friday before the tournament. The winners of the tournament collected a first prize of £8,000. In a closely fought final, James Wade and Steve Backley won a final-leg decider over Phil Taylor and Neil Ruddock, with Backley's double two checkout sealing the victory. Those involved were:

Draw and results edit

all matches first-to-3/best of 5.

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
Part/McGuigan 0
Mardle/Le Vell 3 Mardle/Le Vell 1
Taylor/Ruddock 3 Taylor/Ruddock 3
Dobromyslova/Davis 1 Taylor/Ruddock 2
Wade/Backley 3 Wade/Backley 3
Manley/Ulliott 1 Wade/Backley 3
van Barneveld/Tufnell 3 van Barneveld/Tufnell 0
Webster/Tindall 2

Draw edit

Group stages edit

All matches first-to-5/best of 9.

NB in Brackets: Number = Seeds; BDO = BDO Darts player; Q = Qualifier
NB: P = Played; W = Won; L = Lost; LF = Legs for; LA = Legs against; +/- = Plus/minus record, in relation to legs; Average = 3-dart average; Pts = Points.

Nine-dart shootout edit

With Andy Hamilton and Alan Tabern finishing level on points and leg difference, a piece of history was made, with a nine-dart shootout between the two to see who would play Phil Taylor in the second round. The match took place after the conclusion of Tuesday's second round matches.

POS Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pts Status
2   Andy Hamilton 60 60 5 60 20 60 265 Advance to the last 16
3   Alan Tabern 60 20 5 20 1 20 3 20 20 169 Eliminated

Knockout stages edit

Second round (best of 19 legs)
19–20 November
Quarter-finals (best of 19 legs)
21 November
Semi-finals (best of 31 legs)
22 November
Final (best of 35 legs)
23 November
            
A1   Phil Taylor (1) 97.37 10
B2   Andy Hamilton (8) 98.30 8
A1   Phil Taylor (1) 103.52 10
B1   Simon Whitlock (BDO) 97.73 7
B1   Simon Whitlock (BDO) 89.93 10
A2   Andy Jenkins 85.86 8
A1   Phil Taylor (1) 106.56 16
C1   Mervyn King 96.66 10
C1   Mervyn King 88.04 10
D2   Kevin McDine 90.80 9
C1   Mervyn King 100.98 10
C2   Mark Webster (BDO, 4) 94.28 8
D1   John Part (5) 83.68 2
C2   Mark Webster (BDO, 4) 91.73 10
A1   Phil Taylor (1) 106.25 18
F1   Terry Jenkins (7) 100.92 9
E1   Raymond van Barneveld (2) 95.14 10
F2   Darin Young (Q) 84.59 4
E1   Raymond van Barneveld (2) 97.18 9
F1   Terry Jenkins (7) 96.48 10
F1   Terry Jenkins (7) 93.43 10
E2   Robert Thornton 93.30 8
F1   Terry Jenkins (7) 102.30 16
H2   Gary Anderson (BDO, 6) 105.65 14
G1   James Wade (3) 89.98 8
H2   Gary Anderson (BDO, 6) 95.16 10
H2   Gary Anderson (BDO, 6) 98.45 10
H1   Darryl Fitton (BDO) 88.80 6
H1   Darryl Fitton (BDO) 94.71 10
G2   Denis Ovens 91.89 8

Statistics edit

Player Played Legs Won Legs Lost 100+ 140+ 180s High checkout 3-dart average
  Phil Taylor 7 68 40 126 99 32 151 104.10
  Andy Hamilton 4 19 19 53 33 9 136 100.22
  Gary Anderson 6 48 41 101 74 30 170 98.65
  Raymond van Barneveld 5 34 21 73 33 19 121 98.15
  Terry Jenkins 7 59 57 144 99 36 164 97.63
  James Wade 4 23 17 54 34 10 141 95.09
  Mervyn King 6 45 40 108 61 24 161 94.70
  Simon Whitlock 5 30 24 72 32 14 109 92.84
  Robert Thornton 4 21 22 56 30 12 126 92.71
  Denis Ovens 4 21 17 63 25 3 122 92.10
  Alan Tabern 3 11 9 26 19 4 71 92.04
  Vincent van der Voort 3 10 11 30 14 5 146 91.47
  Adrian Lewis 3 10 10 26 11 5 127 90.69
  Darryl Fitton 5 30 27 56 44 13 117 90.58
  Kevin Painter 3 9 14 25 19 5 91 90.08
  Mark Webster 5 30 22 70 26 9 158 89.98
  Paul Nicholson 3 11 14 29 23 5 140 88.93
  Phill Nixon 3 6 13 24 15 1 68 88.36
  Kevin McDine 4 20 17 40 15 10 107 88.14
  Andy Jenkins 4 21 23 56 24 7 104 87.87
  Darin Young 4 17 21 48 24 8 86 87.25
  John Part 4 15 17 33 12 4 135 86.93
  Gary Mawson 3 11 10 27 9 4 152 86.63
  Kirk Shepherd 3 5 15 22 11 1 70 83.89
  Colin Lloyd 3 9 15 33 13 2 90 83.38
  Wayne Mardle 3 10 12 27 8 2 158 83.23
  Michael van Gerwen 3 6 11 20 7 3 52 82.68
  Brian Woods 3 4 15 16 9 6 120 82.19
  Anastasia Dobromyslova 3 7 15 42 10 0 120 81.46
  Niels de Ruiter 3 1 15 25 5 2 73 81.37
  Wes Newton 3 10 12 27 10 1 100 80.85
  Colin McGarry 3 9 14 32 14 0 100 79.23

Television coverage edit

ITV Sport again broadcast coverage throughout the championship, in the UK. Again, Matt Smith presented the coverage on ITV4, with analysis from Chris Mason and Alan Warriner-Little, commentary from Peter Drury, Stuart Pyke and John Rawling and reports from Ned Boulting and Janie Omorogbe.[citation needed]

Match fixing allegations edit

Five days after the tournament concluded, the PDC revealed that the organisation had received complaints concerning the Group H match between Darryl Fitton and Gary Anderson, and forwarded those complaints to the Darts Regulation Authority.[2] On 26 January 2009 it was announced that there was no evidence of player collusion in the arranging of match outcomes.[3]

External links and references edit

  1. ^ PDC announce ITV Wildcard Qualifiers Archived 5 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine Planet Darts
  2. ^ "PDC Statement". PDC. 28 November 2008. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
  3. ^ "DRA Statement". PDC. 26 January 2009. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2009.